Biological Augmentation Program
The Biological Augmentation Program, BioAug Program for short, is a series of 6 projects, 5 of which are still ongoing. The first of the projects which started the program, the Mutation Gene Project, began in 1967 with the work of a team of scientists, led by Doctor Lawerence Z. Lenchner of Lock Incorporated. After this project was concluded in 2000, the team was able to confirm their theory and create the Program's first mutagen, Mutagen 656-UD9. Since the conclusion of the M-Gene Project, the BioAug Program would be founded to create generations of physically, genetically, technologically, and mentally superior humans. Background The concept of superior humans, or "superhumans", has existed in fiction since man could put pen to paper. The concept was only considered to be anything more than fiction around the dawn of WWII by the, at the time, emerging field of Eugenics. Eugenicists were popular throughout the developed world from roughly 1920s but has devolved considerably since then, though many speculate on a type of "modern eugenics" which is at play in our current society. Nonetheless, it is this field which first took the idea of a genetically superior/pure race of humans seriously, and in some countries, put these ideas into motion, such as Nazism. Since this time, it is commonly held by many conspiracy theorists that many corporate entities, as well as government agencies organize and conduct genetics research into this very subject. In addition, many individuals see the Human Genome Project as a means to create the means to support superior genetics. History Origin From 1939 until the end of WWII in 1945, Lock became very involved in genetics research. From November 1945 to February 1947, Lock kept a close eye on the Nuremburg Trials and then the Tokyo Trials. Following the final verdicts of both, Lock orchestrated the replacement of several high profile scientists, to avoid letting them be executed, and then hired them on as researchers for Lock's BioTech Industries subsidiary. From 1950 to 1980, German and Japanese researchers would make up the bulk of the science teams' leadership. In the early 1960s, several of the science teams began to discuss the probability of a "mutation gene" which could make someone more susceptible to genetic alteration. This in turn grew until the Mutation Gene Project, or M-Gene Project, was started and many of the science teams within Lock began to search for the special gene. In 1982, a scientist by the name of Doctor Lawerence Z. Lenchner would take the position of lead scientist and vice president of BioTech Industries after his extensive, and successful work in the M-Gene Project. Together with Irving C. Banford, in control of the entire conglomerate as its President and CEO, the two began a rapid overhaul of the programs and organization of BioTech Industries, as well as a reorganization of and repurposing of Lock Industries. With the two newer and stronger science and paramilitary organizations, the two men began to establish new testing facilities, new science teams, and new covert operations. In 1984, BioTech Industries and Lock Diagnostics were brought in by the U.S. government to serve as consultants on what was planned to be a global genetics research project. In 1990, the project that would come to be known as the Human Genome Project would get underway, and Lock would quickly volunteer to contribute resources and scientists to help. Conclusion of M-Gene Project & Start of BioAug Program In 2000, a team of Lock scientists, led by Doctor Lenchner, would discover what has come to be known as the M-Gene while participating in the Human Genome Project. Prior to this discovery, experimentation had been a guessing game for the Lock science teams. Lock had no choice but to simply conduct blind, trial and error tests and wait to see if it altered subjects' genetics in any way. Most of the subjects until this point died with little success except for a few cases. Though most of the survivors were not viable and had to be terminated. The Lenchner team hid its findings on the matter at first and began to conduct private tests on the subjects it had been testing on previously which it had been secretly obtaining from a high security and unofficial prison under the supervision of the ICPO. The increase in success was almost immediate and the M-Gene Project, which was tasked with finding the M-Gene was dissolved later that year. From this project, Lenchner's team would create the first 34% mortality rate mutagen, Mutagen 656-UD9. Once it was implemented in a series of experiments on a group of test subjects, the team's findings would be reported to CEO and President Banford and permission to begin what is now known as the BioAug Program would be given to Lenchner's team. However, BioAug was not made underway without the U.S. government's knowledge, and the company was confronted in the spring of 2001, and given little choice but to reveal what it had found. A deal was struck by the Bush Administration with Lock during a private meeting on May 11th, after 2 days of deliberation. The deal was that the administration would ignore the actions of the company in concealing their findings so long as they turned over all of their findings up to this point. Additionally, Lock would be allowed to continue their experiments without the intervention of the government. Mutagen Development Project & Secrecy Protocol Originally, BioAug was organized into two groups/projects; the Mutagen Development Project and the paramilitary operations cell, the Secrecy Protocol. Mutagen Development was responsible for the further development of the mutagens used to create genetically superior humans, while Secrecy was, and still is, responsible for security in the program's facilities and to actively prevent any accidental disclosures to the public in regards to the program. Mutagen Development officially started work on December 9th, 2001, and Secrecy began operation by the end of the month. M.D.'s first goal was to adapt the original mutagen to work faster, as well as to reduce the mortality rate of the mutagen. In 2002, the Mutagen Development Project would be renamed and repurposed with the creation of the Predisposition Screening Procedure. The procedure was based on the discovery of the Lenchner team in 2002 that humans all seemed to respond to the mutagens differently. This screening allowed scientists to predetermine what powers subjects were most likely to develop. Once this was made possible, Lenchner, who was given the position of head scientist of BioAug, decided it was important to develop 2 additional projects to separately develop understanding and conduct experiements on subjects more efficiently, based on the types of powers subjects would develop. As a result, BioAug would rename the Mutagen Development Project to the Planning & Acquisitions Group. This repurposed operations and administrations cell would be, and still is, used to acquire, test, and organize all subjects into the project they are best suited for. Under the direction of Lenchner, BioAug would create the OLYMPIAN Project and TITAN Project. Each of these new projects would serve as the new experimental arms of the program.